Cosmic and Stratos
by abodo
Summary: Kisaragi Gentarou is finally graduating highschool. It's a bittersweet as he parts with friends to venture on his own. Little does he know that this parting is more extreme than he initially thought. A little time space mishap, finds him in a place where women are armed with what he can only describe as "swimsuit armor". And his landing seems to have pissed off one. Oh dear.
1. Prologue: Cosmic side

It's spring, a season for meetings and partings. The cherry blossoms and peonies blossom under an azure canvas as the warm winds of the new year place their blessings on the youths of today. They chatter, uneasy, unknowing of what lies ahead. It's an exciting new start, but also a heart wrenching end. Where would each of their paths take them as they leave the place which they have come to know as a second home? What would those who come new find within their short tenure of highschool. Who knows?

"_Boku no namae wa Hayabusa-kun~!_"

"_**Hayabusa-ku~n!**_"

"_Hayai kedo busaku wa nai ze~_"

"_**Busaku wa na~i~**_"

"_Do~n to koi koi __**ta~iyo-buu~**_"

"_Chikyuu-no~!_"

"_**Chikyuu~no~!**_"

"_Min~na~ga~!_"

"_**Min~na~ga~!**_"

"_Oika~ze~da~!_"

"_**Oikaze~da~!**_"

"_Kurai~_"

"_**Kurai~!**_"

"_Uchuu de~mo!_"

"_**Uchuu demo!**_"

"_kibo~o yami~ereba gama~an-suru_"

"_**kibo~o yami~ereba gama~an-suru**_"

"_Hayabusa-kun_"

"_**Hayabusa-kun**_"

The notes of the ever present song floated over the campus of Amanogawa Highschool. From where he stood, young Kisaragi Gentarou could faintly hear his childhood friend's voice as it was flanked by the glee club's. His ever present grin turned into a little victorious smile as he remembered how everyone used to hate the song. But now, practically every person on campus sang along with it. Of course, this was after some intervention from the glee club. Gentarou rested his cheeks on the base of his palms as he leaned out the window. His odd posture looking more odd as his gaudy pompadour swayed idly with the warm breeze. His normally open short gakuran was replaced with a longer formal version of it. It was buttoned down which was the only bit he allowed of taming of his rather zany personality.

"Aah!", the teen stretched, "Everyone's really enjoying themselves.". Gentarou pocketed his hands as he walked away from the view in the window.

His friends were out on the grounds, holding a small graduation _hanami. _It was JK's idea. Ever the party animal, nobody in the Kamen Rider Club was surprised when he suggested holding it after the graduation ceremony. Though it had somehow evolved from just having their own club to every single friend Gentarou ever made in Amanogawa, which is literally everyone in Amanogawa, including the faculty and staff.

Right now, the whole school was down there eating snacks, chatting up the past year's memories and generally having fun as a talent show had started up at some point. As evidenced by Yuuki and her choir quartet version of her song, _Ganbare Hayabusa-kun_.

"Too bad Ryusei couldn't make it.", Gentarou flopped down on one chair as he pensively folded his arms behind his head. The Subaruboshi Highschool exchange student had to attend his own graduation ceremony so he couldn't make it to the party. Tomoko was enjoying herself but she seemed to look for someone in the crowd the whole day. Fortunately, Miu-sempai and Daimonji-sempai had been able to attend despite their steadily rising university workload.

Looking around, Gentarou felt a slight warmth in his chest. Memories filled him as each corner and square centimeter of the walls were covered in his friends' personal paraphernalia. Everything from Daimonji's workout gear to Tomoko's little atelier made him a little more restless as his eyes swept over them. Despite being in touch, he'd really miss these days.

Gentarou felt his collar dampen before he realized that he had been crying. He had been crying so much that it had all run down his face and dripped down to his clothes and on the floor. His nose was already runny so he wiped away at the watery snot with his gakuran's sleeve before even considering that this was his formal gakuran. But that was the way he was, Kisaragi Gentarou was a man of instinct and not thought.

"Man.", Kisaragi cried. "Spring really does make my heart itch.", the young graduate laughed through his tears. A hand clutched at the left of his breast as he closed his eyes and remembered how they all got together. Defeating the Zodiarts, making friends with everyone, becoming Fourze...

Yeah, Fourze was definitely the start of it all. Gentarou looked towards the corner of the room where his best friend Kengo normally nested himself. It housed a computer as well as a plethora of papers and the astro-switch kaban or brief case.

The delinquent looking boy placed one hand on the kaban with a fond look on his face. "You know, if it weren't for you. I might not have been able to meet everyone the way I have. I may not have been able to protect everyone either.". Slowly, he brought out his other hand and undid the latches that locked the bag shut. With the flick of his wrists, Gentarou opened up the case to reveal the Fourze driver. A slate gray belt buckle which had four switches and a housing above each for another four removable switches. In between the housings was an LCD screen that showed the status of the unit. To the rightmost part of the belt buckle was a lever which Gentarou pulled to initiate his transformation or his finishing attacks, the limit breaks. The Fourze driver meant a lot to his friends and to him as well. It represented their bonds and the strength to protect each other. It was practically the crystallization of their youth. But it was broken. During the last battle with the evolved Sagittarius Horoscopes, Gentarou had invoked the limit break too many times, overloading the belt which powered him, and in turn the astro switches which powered the belt. After that, Kengo had tried to fix it for the longest time. But without the technology of the moon base Rabbit Hutch, it was near impossible.

Lifting the precious object from its case, Gentarou inspected the belt. "Nothing's really changed huh?", he observed as even the most minute marks from past battles were still visible on the polished surface. Nostalgia taking over, Gentarou let himself fall back into old habits as he snapped the belt onto his waist. Cosmic energy lit up and materialized hard flexible material that served as the belt. Gentarou smiled as he remembered that at least that much still worked. In succession, he flipped the switches on his belt, First the two on the right with his left hand, then the left two with his right. He grabbed the lever with his right hand and held out his left fist in front of his face as the familiar stance he took during transformation came naturally.

"**3**"

"**2**"

"**1**"

"Henshin!", Gentarou shouted and pushed the lever. He held up his right hand while throwing out the left to his side.

But nothing happened. Instead of the familiar flashy pulse and burst of cosmic energy, there was nothing. That was as far as the belt worked back then as well. Gentarou smiled as placed his hands on his hips in a bid to take the transformation trinket off. There was enough messing around and he supposed he should put it back before Kengo showed up and scolded him for handling such delicate hardware crudely while it was undergoing repairs.

The former kamen rider reached towards the four switches to put them in deactivated state. But they didn't reach.

PSHAN!

A strong gale blew into the club room that replaced rabbit hutch as the KRC's meeting spot. It seemed to wrap around Gentarou as he started to panic and scream, "Wh-what the heck is going on!?". The wind continued to blow and even raised up the other astroswitches in the case.

The panicking teen looked down at his belt and wailed, "Is this karma for playing around with you? If it is I'm sorry!". Gentarou was practically crying when multiple dark portals with shining points reminiscent of twinkling stars spontaneously appeared within the room.

"AAAAHHH!"

Gentarou screamed helplessly as one particularly strong hole sucked him in to its vacuum with the astroswitches following.


	2. Prologue: Stratos side

It was hot, really hot. The time wasn't long after sunrise but the temperature had already shot up from the cool night. Maybe it was the sea breeze? They were after all in a racing circuit near the artificial island of Odaiba. It was likely the fault of the sea winds. Or at least, Ichika wanted to blame the sea winds. Honestly he wasn't well-versed in meteorology, or if he knew anything at all. If you think about it, or even if you don't Orimura Ichika wouldn't have known about such. He is still an ordinary highschool boy after all. Albeit, a highschool boy who is the only male able to pilot a certain superweapon. The heat was too great and standing out here in the middle of the asphalt track did nothing to alleviate the feeling. Rather, Ichika now had a newfound empathy for Teppanyaki as it was exactly how he felt on the blacktop.

"It's really hot.", the young man fanned himself with an offhand comment. Though he would just like to stick his tongue out and lay on the ground, that would be equal to lying down on a bed of coals. That was just how hot the road was. Not to mention it would make for an unsightly appearance in this crowd.

Looking up, the bleachers were really full. He noted that the sky boxes above those seats were filled with people as well. People in distinctly crisp suits that spoke of wealth and the blocky build of TV cameras spread out around them.

"Oh? They're televising this event aren't they? _Cannonball Fast_."

"Yes, they are."

The voice was high pitched. One that unmistakably belonged to a girl.

"Cecilia.", Ichika turned to his classmate and one of his close friends within the whole school.

Curled golden ringlets flipped in mid-air. They glistened like precious metals in the sun, their glaring brilliance contrasting the soft glow of silken skin of the British representative cadet, Cecilia Alcott.

"Ichika-san, as the class representative, you need to be more aware of the events happening in school. My goodness, you are even a staff of the central student council who is supposed to have participated in arranging this event. Why is it that I am more informed?"

"Ahehehe", Ichika laughed uneasily at those remarks. There really wasn't much he could say. Between IS training, schoolwork, extracurricular activities and hanging out with everyone, there just wasn't anything left in the tank for him anymore. It was a miracle he was somehow catching up with lessons in class. "Sorry Cecilia, there's just been a lot going on right now. I'm glad that you're around. Or else I might have died from exhaustion or another.".

Sighing, Cecilia gave the young man a light smile. "I'm still looking forward to that rematch Ichika-san. I'd prefer it if you live until then."

"So do I. Until then, I'll be counting on you class vice-representative.".

"Yes, yes. Do you best as well class representative.", she walked away in a dignified dismissal.

Ichika couldn't understand that girl. One second she was hating his guts, the next she was holding him by the hand through all the most difficult parts of his career. It was a question of whether he should be wary or grateful. Unable to decide, he settled on both.

"Ichika!"

The young man did a 180 post-haste. He knew the owner of that voice was just as if not even more volatile than the British girl. "H-Houki!", Ichika recognized his childhood friend.

Houki glared at Ichika with accusing eyes. The general meanness surrounding her feeling as natural as the ponytail she always wore. Her eyes were steady, watching his reactions. She shook her head telling him, "Get in line. We're starting, _class representative_.".

Ichika recoiled at how venomous that title was on Houki's lips. She sounded very irritated for some reason. Based on experience, Houki had always been a spitfire. Always quiet and just suddenly exploding, she was less a firecracker and more a bomb. No one knew what set her off, not even him who'd been close with her for over two years. He could only pick up on subtle hints to when she'd explode. What caused them though was still a wholly different story. But for now, there was no time to think on her irritation, because the races were indeed starting.

* * *

"LAADIIIIEEEES AAAAND GENTLEMEEEEEEEEN! Right now we are about to start today's event. The high-speed, adrenaline-high CANNONBAAAAAALL FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSST!"

A girl in a shoulderless checker-flag top was standing on top of a floating platform. It must have been powered by some form of PIC because there was no support whatsoever. For the people in the bleachers, this was a miraculous spectacle, a once in a lifetime novelty of sight they could not miss even. But for those who came from Infinite Stratos Academy and those who worked closely with them, this was not the case. Such a platform was paltry compared to what they were normally exposed to. The platform was most likely a derivation of IS derived technology. Probably an experimental model as well. Such technology was something IS spear-headed in research, and laws stating ISA to be its own independent island nation meant no other country had such a thing. Cannonball fast having access to it was thanks to the cooperation of ISA in organizing this event.

The platform moved up to the center of the stadium and streams of light barely seen through the intensity of the morning sun coalesced into a giant ball in the middle. It was a giant three dimensional imaging screen, courtesy of the same holo-screen technology ISA used.

"So if you would please... GET READY TO BLAST THE SOUND BARRIER!"

SCHWAAAA~!

The crowd roared in their cheers

"They certainly are being flashy about this whole thing."

Watching through a lonely glowing screen, two women sat in a dim room. Well one sat while the other stood. The deafening cheers of the crowd thrumming through thick walls all the way from the bleacher to their place in the central control room.

"It can't be helped senpai. Cannonball fast is the only other IS related event next to Mondo Grosso."

"Hmph, that's just because IS is relatively young to the public eye. As people adapt to the IS, more and more similar events should pop up."

The seated woman smiled, "Well when you come back out of retirement, I'll look forward to you winning them all Ms. First Mondo Grosso Champion Orimura Chifuyu."

"Ohohoho, did I just hear you want to have natto in your tea Yamada?"

"Aaah! Nooo!"

* * *

Excitement coursed through the crowd. She was just as excited to be honest. Not because she was much into IS but instead because of the piece of paper clutched in her hand. No, it wasn't anything special. It was a ticket, on it was written "Cannonball Fast". It had a barcode and a letter-number combination printed on it. Normally one would cost over ten thousand yen to get such a good seat as hers. Maybe even fifty thousand. But the ticket she had was free, it was given to her. That person who gave the ticket to her made it special. But...

"Just as expected of the Cannonball Fast.", the girl sighed as she looked around the surging sea of people. They were all seated but the energy they gave off was suffocating in its thickness. The tension giving her this sense of claustrophobia. Walking down the aisles of seats, she was searching for her own. "C-block seat G-32, C-block seat G-32.", she repeated the phrase to herself like a mantra. Her amber eyes scanned over the labels of the rows and columns of bleachers. She was so focused on her task that she did not notice walking into someone until it was too late.

"Kyah!"

The girl squeaked in surprise.

"Are you alright little princess?"

The girl with the ticket blushed red as her hair. She voice that called to her was sultry at best, seductive at worst. It belonged to a woman but the sheer husk and smoothness of tone made it so pleasant to the ears that the sensation rendered her knees weak.

"Uh-uh-I'm uh... fine!", the girl forced out. She was faintly aware that an arm was wrapped around her, most likely that woman's. She wanted to apologize quickly but that was difficult to accomplish. When she laid eyes on the woman who saved her, those weak knees of hers promptly gave out.

"Whoa there.", the woman smiled in surprise at the sudden weight that added onto her arm.

"S-Sorry.", the red girl tried hard to keep the swoon from coming onto her voice.

It was hard not to swoon. The woman who'd caught the girl was gorgeous. Perhaps such words as beautiful and sublime could not even begin to describe her. The only response one's brain could give was to say the woman was _perfect_. The woman was of a slender build, with toned muscles hidden under soft fair skin. She was taller than the girl and had sun spun hair that fell flirtatiously to her waist. Her face was well featured with deep green eyes and a radiant smile. A beauty mark residing underneath one eye served to throw the perfect symmetry off features such as high cheeks and well defined nose, but such a loss only garnered a yearning to see the woman more. If only to behold the moment her beauty to be complete.

"No worries there.", the woman chuckled at how cute the red-haired girl was. "I wasn't quite looking where I was going either so we're even I suppose.".

"Um... uh...", the girl tried to search for a topic to talk with this glamorous person about but her mind was drawing a blank.

A moment or two pass where the woman was clearly taking amusement of the cute fumbling of the girl before her. "What's your name?", she offered an icebreaker.

"Oh... Ah!... Oh...", clueless surprise painted the girls features. The rouge of a natural blush covering pouty cheeks "I-I'm Ran! Gotanda Ran! It's nice to meet you miss.".

"Hmhmhmhm... I 'll introduce myself. But first. I'd think we should stand properly first yes?"

Looking down at themselves, Ran noticed that the woman still had an arm around her. She quickly scuttled to stand on her own power. Embarrassment was radiating off her in waves that the woman just took in stride and amusement.

"I'm really sorry.", Ran bowed her head in apology once more.

The woman smiled and waved the teen off, "I already said it's fine.". "As promised, my name is Squall Meusel. Can I ask what you're doing here alone Ran? Were you separated from your family by the crowd?"

Ran shook her head, "N-no. I came alone. A f-f-friend gave me a free ticket.".

"Mmm... well I came alone as well. But seeing this crowd, it's quite dangerous for a girl to be alone don't you think?", Squall smiled and winked.

Ran was suddenly concious of herself. She inspected her shoes and swore that she could feel steam radiating from her whole being. "Y-Yes. I think so too.", the teen felt compelled to reply thusly.

Squall took Ran's hand in one velvet glove, "How about we seat together then?".

"Uh... Um... yes.", Ran acquiesced.

The two women walked hand in hand looking for a paired seating. The blonde amongst them turned her gaze from an embarrassed red head to the sky. The smile she kept on her face changed ever so slightly. The festivities were beginning.

* * *

"Yuuuuuzuuuuuuu-chaaaaaan! Saaaayuuuuuriiii-chaaaaan! Ooooveeeeerrrrrr heeeeeeere!", a girl in an attention grabbing mascot costume was waving her arms lazily overhead. This caused people to stare at her more.

"You're oddly energetic today Honne-chan.", Tanimoto Yuzu smiled uneasily at her friend's grab at unwanted attention.

Behind the twin-tailed girl was another with black hair extending just below the shoulder blades. Her name is Yorutake Sayuri.

"It's Cannonball Fast! Anyone would be excited right?", Sayuri's smile set in a practical grin.

"Come quiiicklyyyy! I've been saving your seats for some time nooooooooow!"

"Awesome Honne-chan!", Sayuri cheered as she ran towards the section of bleachers her friend was at.

"Alsoooooooo, did you guys get popcooooooooorn?"

Yuzu sighed her discontent. "In the end it's because of the snacks huh?". Despite that sigh, a gentle warmth was coming from the twin-tailed brunette's expression. "Don't worry Honne-chan! We got you popcorn and iced tea too!"

"YAY!"

* * *

"Is there anything interesting outside the window?"

PA!

The sound of a wood and paper fan snapping shut reverberated off the dense rich wood walls of the luxury sky box. A playful smile on ruby red lips and eyes gave a mysterious reply, "Just enjoying the sight of my fellow students having fun Director Kazu."

Across the red-eyed girl who spoke was a man in a suit. Taejima Kazu, Project Director for Hidegeki Heavy Industries. Unlike most of the other company heads in other sky boxes, the suit he wore was a dull brown and his worn hands held no form of liquor, visual aid or gadgetry. Even his celphone was tucked away neatly in his pockets. All in all the man looked faded, making him appear to be an age of fifty despite being at a young age of thirty five.

"I'm glad to hear that Sarashiki-san."

"Please.", the ISA central student council president interjected, "call me Tatenashi."

* * *

_**Everyone's hearts are racing! Let's all reach the goal!**_

_**Cosmic and**_**_ Stratos!_**

**_Cannonball fast! KITTTAAAAAAAAAAA!_**


	3. 1st states: It starts from here!

_**Get hype!**_

_**Cannonball Fast is underway!**_

"GO!"

That was the only word they needed to hear. The hums, thrums and purrs of engines quickly turned to deafening roars. The starting line once filled now left only with the gusts of afterburners and slightly singed earth.

The racers were neck and neck. Huang Ling Yin's heavy Shenlong leading the pack by a small margin on some odd chance. Right behind was Cecilia Alcott in her Strike Gunner packet Blue Tears. The ones behind her were Charlotte, Laura, Houki and Ichika with Laura somehow keeping a noselength lead over them. It was cathartic, the speed so overwhelming that if the IS' didn't have shields, all of them would be suffering friction burn from the wind. Subsonic or no, the speeds were just too breakneck. Not only that, each racer was trying their best to outmaneuver the rest without moving too far away. Ichika, who was the most inexperienced in IS, losing out to even Houki, learned the hard way why everyone didn't dare to move too far away.

To put it simply, he couldn't break away. He had supreme confidence he could make a clean break from the pack if only he had the space but the others were really sticking it to him. No matter if he nudged left or nudged right, he would touch elbows with either Houki or Charlotte. It was nightmarish in a claustrophobic way. Add that to the highspeed induced adrenaline and Ichika found himself thinking pretty irrationally.

"A chance. Just one. That's all I need!"

BANG!

The ground just beside Houki exploded right as she passed. It dealt no damage and shrapnel was negligible to her shield, but the blast nearly threw her off balance. Judging from the angle of the explosion, the shot came from the front.

"Haha! How do you like that? My Shenlong impact engine pulse!"

Ichika stared hard at the violet unit before him. The HUD of his own Infinite Stratos, Byakushiki already preoccupied with feeding precision data on his surroundings that his eyes couldn't quite follow was quick to scan the current bulky Shenlong.

"So that's why it's so fast.", Ichika barely breathed out. The past weeks, Rin had been busy working on her IS in preparation for Cannonball Fast, as per the Chinese government's instructions. But when he or any of the other girls asked about it, she just said that it was a secret. She trained on her own and compulsary class practices were done with her usual settings. Even before the race, she made sure to keep her IS secret. Now though, it was all out in the open.

The current Shenlong was set with eight impact cannons, Twice the number of even the Avalanche packet used during the Gospel incident. The bulk was shocking at first sight and it would make anyone wonder if it was race worthy at all. But closer analysis would prover naysayers wrong. That thing was made to blast through the competition, whether by speed or just plain brute force. The great mass could be used to build momentum and anchor the unit during tight turns. Rounded armor ensured that impact would be elastic resulting in minimal momentum loss in case of collisions. What's more the eight impact cannons which were initially considered a liability in this competition where you can't directly attack your opponent suddenly became a strength. The principle of the impact cannon was to compress bullet of air and fire them at the opponent. But now, that compression was focused as a stream, and that stream of compressed air made for some very powerful boosters, all eight of them. About for of them had swivel joints meaning they could face other directions for instantaneous direction shifts. The greatest advantage to them was that they had not lost their capacity as weapons at all if that potshot at Houki was any indication.

BANG!

Ichika had to swerve away from that one, as did Charlotte. Byakushiki was doing calculations in his peripheral vision.

"ANALYSIS OF PREVIOUS ATTACK: POWER: 35%, ACCURACY: 98.63%"

Ichika grit his teeth, that one wasn't a fluke or a dodge on their part. Rin was aiming precisely with a weapon that had such poor accuracy. It was like sniping with a shotgun. This wasn't just equipment. Rin is good.

"You seem to be really full of yourself aren't you?", Cecilia's high-pitched voice pierced hotly through the whistling wind.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three shots in succession were shot, and three shots in succession were dodged. Lingyin didn't look back, but this was less a case of need to keep her eyes on the road and more of using the extended spherical vision afforded by the IS' augmentation of her senses.

"Grr... You're so annoying!", Lingyin screamed before turning the four pivoting impact cannons against Cecilia.

"Hey, no attacking other racers!", Ichika tried to warn the chinese girl of her impending disqualification. But that fell on deaf ears as the weapons fired.

B-BA-BA-BANG!

The shots exploded one after another, like fireworks that could not wait for the other to finish before going off themselves. Ichika had been expecting the horns to blare, some official looking IS to come pouring out of the sidelines. Something! Since Rin had outright fired at another racer despite a rule of no attacks to be fired directly at each other. But nothing, there was none of that whatsoever.

A screen popped up in Ichika's hood and he saw it. The official spherical 3D imaging jumbotron they used to track the racers. All of their shield points were there. Completely untouched, including Cecilia's. Another screen opened and Ichika saw the crater Rin opened up. The center of it all had no damage.

"Hahaha! See that? That's how you sharp shoot. That'll learn ya!", Rin cackled at her somewhat underhanded victory as she was now leading by a lot.

"You're the one whose head is getting big."

tink...

"Eh?"

The tiny sound resonated in the Chinese representative's ears. It was the sound metal made when it hit other metal in a prominent way. And then she flipped, literally. "Gaaaah!", she screamed while rolling comically over the road, her rounded armor affording her some very nice velocity despite the negative acceleration she was getting. Before she completely fell though, Rin saw the cause of her downfall. "A-A bit!?".

Yes, it was a bit. Or should one call it a BT?

"Ohohoho", the haughty ojou-sama laugh Ichika could only associate with one person echoed on the field. "You underestimate me LingYin-san. My dazzling self could never have been caught in such a childish trap!".

Ichika, Laura, Charlotte and Houki all looked towards the source of the direction.

"Geh!", was their collective reaction.

Despite the sparkly aura of opulence lent by the full ojou-sama mode, the image was horribly marred by the fact Cecilia was utterly covered in dirt and dust.

"She's not dazzling at all!", they chorused in their hearts.

Rin returned to a vertical base, now at the back of the pack as her stumble had afforded the others to pass her by in their avoidance of joining her heap.

"But how?", she demanded. "I know the specs of the Strike Gunner packet like the back of my hand! All the BT bits are supposed to be sealed so how did you launch them?".

Cecilia grinned, "You mean these bits?". She flew over Rin's head, showing off the telltale BT bits that formed a skirt around Cecilia's waste. All six of them were in place, not one was unattached. But what caught the people's attention was the thing on Cecilia's back. Or rather, that thing flying a little above Cecilia's back.

"Ohohoho! This is no longer just the Strike Gunner packet. This is the Strike Gunner Double BT special!"

The object over Cecilia looked like a mass of wing binders. The Byakushiki gave it a quick scan again and Ichika's face paled at seeing the truth behind it. "That's-"

He never got to finish before the ojou-sama started up again, "That's right! This is a dedicated mass of remote bits to be used separately from the original six bits that make up the boosters of my Strike Gunner. What's more!". The mass of bits disassembled and Cecilia stretched out her arms and legs. The bits converged on her. "These extra bits can also combine with me to give extra boosters. Ohohohoho! I see you are stunned by the elegance of this system!".

Ichika wordlessly watched the now faster British candidate take the lead after that dramatic display of power-ups. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his neck as he swallowed the forming lump in his throat.

_How? How can I tell her that the power-up looks so forced!_

"She's pulling away!", Laura cried out in front of Ichika.

After that astute observation, whatever semblance of keeping the pack to box each other in was gone. The girls went all out.

Laura's Schwarzer Regen still had the railgun on, but it had Ichika wondering since the start of the race. Wasn't the railgun aligned with Laura's right shoulder? Why was it directly behind her now? The answer came ridiculously shortly after. The railgun began to position itself, lifting the barrel. When it stopped, Ichika came face to face with a large bore barrel of a metal tube that could launch slugs at a speed over three times the speed of sound. He nearly wet himself, nearly.

The railgun hummed while Laura raised her hands forward as well. After that, she inexplicably started accelerating.

"What?", Ichika exclaimed in surprise. "How is she doing that?".

Again, Byakushiki's analysis came to enlighten him. The railgun on the back was continuously running a unique magnetic current that was causing oscillations. These oscillations were producing motions and based on the laws of physics in one way or another, these vibrations produce a reactionary force that allows for use as an engine. But the acceleration such a thing could produce on earth was negligible at best. The key to this system was the AIC. That's right, the reason why Laura had raised her hands was to open up her AIC and put the field on herself. It seemed the AIC had been retuned to not only stop all motion, but to also manipulate the forces that could and would apply to whatever was in the field. In short, Laura was making it so that the only force affecting her IS was the oscillations from her railgun!

_What an incredibly complicated trick! Wait... If no other forces apply doesn't that mean she can't move inside that thing? How will she turn!?_

Ichika was mulling this over when from right beside him another voice spoke up. "Well then. I suppose I have to get going as well."

"Char! Don't tell me you have some crazy power-up technique too!"

Charlotte's angelic smile never dropped as she said, "Ofcourse not.". Her eyes were dead set on the two girls leading them. One, seeing as Laura had just slammed herself into a wall. "There is absolutely nothing ridiculous about the true form of my current Rafael.".

Ichika's eyes turned into dots at that proclamation.

Right before his eyes, the Rafael began to fall apart, rather it was shifting on its own accord. "I-Is this fold-out armor? Have they adapted that technology already? This is-"

The Rafael finished its transformation, leaving Charlotte oddly without armor. The IS' back unit had moved lower, the hyper sensor was gone and so was the French girl's hair tie it seemed. Her braid was now loosely whipping against the wind while the gauntlets were nowhere in sight as well.

"Once in the past there was a lady named Godiva. The king then was a tyrant, and as a request to end his tyranny, lady Godiva had promised to ride naked through town. The horse she chose was extremely fast and she rode so quickly that none caught a glimpse of her naked beauty. Right now the Rafael's equipment was made to resemble. Behold! Rafael's packet Godiva's Steed!"

Charlotte proudly showed off the orange unit's new configuration. Indeed, Charlotte's upper body which lack IS armoring did make her seem naked in a way. Her hypersensor had somehow become a floating ring wrapped around her waist. The gauntlets held together the skirt armor and boosters which were once on the back but could no longer fit. The rear boosters crowded over her butt in a way that resembled a skirt. There were even more boosters but they had attached to her legs. Overall she looked like-

_Kyri●s!? Isn't this copyright infringement!? And I'm pretty sure Godiva's story didn't go like that, nor was she French!_

"Ichika."

"Hiii!", the sudden call reminded the young man that he was not alone. Looking back, he was sharply reminded that his childhood friend number 1 was still with him. After all, they were in the same boat that neither of their units could be modified.

The stoic girl stared at him for a few seconds before giving a snort crossed between a sigh and with held laughter. This somehow irritated Ichika a lot. "Later.", was all Houki said before Akatsubaki shot forward at an amazing speed. This left Ichika in shock.

"We... we were supposed to be on the same boat.", he cried out in dejected shock.

He had clearly forgotten that Akatsubaki had full fold-out armor. She could shift between setting mid-operation from defensive, to offensive, to evasive, to energy saving any time she wanted. This whole time during the race, she had been holding on to her energy saving mode. This was now speed settings.

There was no longer any holding back, everyone of-

"THE REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATES MAKE THEIR MOVE!", the exuberant announcer girl cried atop her levitating podium. "Just out of the third corner and everyone's GAN GAN going for the gold! OVERWHELMING POWER AND SPEED! TRULY! LIKE A CANNOOOOOONBAAAAAALL!"

SCHWAAAA!

The crowd roars in response to her rousing calls. All but one. Ran's eyes aren't resting on the imaging sphere, they are piercing it to one corner of the picture. "Ichika.", she says this quietly as she squeezes her hands. The raucous cheers of the crowd around her indicate that they have no idea what she's so worried about, neither do they pay heed to the girl herself. But someone does notice her. "Hya!", she squeaks in surprise.

The touch of soft skin on her own surprises her, but does not repulse. Ran feels like she could actually sink into the warm feeling wrapping around her. She looks to her left and finds warm pools of caramel sparkling with amusement. "What's the matter?", Squall asks the younger female.

Ran feels unsure, she looks down before turning to her companion again, "Ichika isn't doing so well.".

Squall looks over at the screen, it's easy to distinguish the white unit despite the small coverage it was getting. Before it were the enlarged images of the girls charging forward or blasting each other away from the lead spot. "Mmm, he appears to be struggling.", the blonde woman speaks lightly. The smile on her face easy and happy.

Annoyance breaches the younger girl's heart at seeing how her companion was taking delight in Ichika's hardship, but she felt like she didn't have the right to condemn the blonde for it. "He's in last place. I just hope he can somehow catch up.".

"Oh he will.", Squall's smile grew bigger. "By the fifth turn he'll have surpassed them all.".

Ran stared at the prediction with wondering eyes.

Back in the control room, Yamada Maya was staring at the multiple screens that showed the conditions of the racers as well as multiple windows of the CCTV system of the track. She was quite frantic as she pressed buttons, typed keys and overall just keep up with all the crazy happening outside.

Behind, Orimura Chifuyu was quite passive. Her eyes were hardened and staring intently at a particular window showing up on the monitor.

"O-Orimura-senpai. Ichika-kun is-"

"That idiot will be fine.", she speaks curtly. "Just continue gathering that data. We have to provide special classes to the representative cadets after all."

"Y-Yes."

Maya closed her mouth and continued her work. Even though the conversation was short, she could tell that her senior instructor was worried. She was still an older sister after all, but at the same time she was a teacher. She had to be impartial despite wanting to cheer her own sibling on. This cold shoulder treatment must be the only way she could manage both feelings at once. Maya herself realized that she should follow this example.

But despite what Maya thought, Chifuyu's mind was far from spinning such ideas. She was still staring at the screen but it wasn't at Ichika, she was sure he was capable of overcoming this situation. In the vast azure shown on the monitor she could feel it. Something was there, something was about to appear. But she had no idea what it was. The vague sense that allowed her to survive the most dangerous of situations was telling her something big was happening. But that something was not registering itself as either benevolent nor malignant. Whatever it was, she could not call off the event for a baseless feeling even she herself was unsure of. So she kept watch, resolving that she would directly intervene herself if whatever it was proved to be a threat.

_**Ichika is in a pinch!**_

_**The mysterious Squall predicts the turn about!**_

_**What is causing the mysterious unease of the great Brunhilde?**_

_**DANGER! Kita?**_


End file.
